The recently concluded and highly-choreographed 66th UMNO General Assembly has only served to underline one inescapable fact of Malaysian political life – that UMNO is incapable of change unless it is sent to the Opposition benches in the 13th General Elections.

Malaysian voters will do UMNO and the country a great national service by dispatching UMNO to the Opposition benches for they will not only be creating the necessary conditions before any “transformation” can be effected in UMNO, but also laying a firmer and more solid basis for greater maturity of the parliamentary democratic process by institutionalizing the two-coalition system and the peaceful alternation and transition of power through the democratic process.

Without these “building blocks”, Malaysia cannot even talk about wanting to be the “world’s best democracy” as had been claimed by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak. Read the rest of this entry »

DEC 4 — There might be a need to order more popcorn, seeing that two former top cops are feuding openly in public. I refer to today’s The Malaysian Insider report on Datuk Ramli Yusuff and Tan Sri Musa Hassan.

Both speak about political interference and their revelations point to one real fact. That the Polis Di Raja Malaysia is in shambles.

Ramli accuses his one-time colleague of fixing evidence and mixing with underworld figures. That is just the tip of the iceberg. Can we believe such fanciful tales?

These revelations are all the more ironic and distressing at a time when public confidence in the police is already at a low due to the apparently rising spate of crime around the country. Read the rest of this entry »

The just concluded 66th Umno general assembly was the last opportunity for the party to convince the people of its willingness to change – a promise it made four years ago after its unprecedented losses at the March 8 election of 2008.

Unfortunately it appears that Umno had missed that opportunity going by the proceedings at the assembly, the last before 13th general election.

It was pathetic to see a party in power for 55 years, having led the fight for independence and developing the nation to a level to be admired by many, resorting to three misguided strategies to win the crucial 13th general election that is seen as a threat to unseat it.

They are:

1. Over-boasting of its experience in governance and achievements while failing to address all its glaring misdeeds.

2. Threatening of riots and unrest if it loses.

3. Opposition bashing and ridiculing the opposition as an unholy alliance, its inexperience in governing and unrealistic populist policies which will only lead the country to bankruptcy. Read the rest of this entry »

Malaysians need not fear that we will become like Afghanistan because Afghanistan has learnt from us and has become like us.

A New York Times report headlined ‘Audit says Kabul Bank began as Ponzi scheme’ bears a striking resemblance to the way Umno runs this country.

Investigators have claimed that the Kabul Bank has been fraudulently obtaining hundreds of millions of dollars and siphoning it off to a few individuals connected to President Hamid Karzai (left).

The war-torn country is trying to get to grips with the concepts of western democracy and banking, but public trust and confidence in the government has been shattered by the revelations of crony capitalism and corruption on a massive scale.

Governments around the world are shocked at the Kabul Bank scandal but are turning a blind eye to similar events in Malaysia, where institutions routinely siphon off money to Umno and its cronies.

An audit by the Kroll investigative firm has revealed that the Kabul Bank’s financial duplicity was mired in controversy and cover up. There was a political conspiracy involving those at the very top of government to stall the investigations.

This is no different from Malaysia. Recent cases are the political interference concerning Tajuddin Ramli’s involvement in the Malaysia Airlines scandal, the Sabah Umno and Michael Chia fiasco and the National Feedlot Corporation case. Read the rest of this entry »

DEC 3 — Umno’s morale has been boosted after its general assembly and even its goal has changed.

Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak set retrieving two-thirds of parliamentary seats as the new goal. As the prime minister, he must have a certain degree of confidence to say so or he would have to face both internal and external pressure once he fails to achieve the goal.

Najib is very clear that he is just a “transition prime minister”, who received the regime directly from Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. In other words, he has not received a formal mandate from the people.

To be a strong leader, he must lead his team and win the election. And he understands that if Barisan Nasional just barely wins, the regime will be inevitably unstable while his personal reputation will also be very low.

Umno’s demand is very clear, namely to win two-thirds of the parliamentary seats and retrieve Selangor. Only that will be called the true victory of Umno and the BN coalition. Read the rest of this entry »